The Irish standard., 1887-04-09

to the expulsion of the English, and the
word tmurder'' does not occur, and it
was not till 1912 that an investigation
was ordered in regard to the persons
said to have been killed. The estimates
were cut down until the number was
placed at $50. At the same time the
Irish court justices and council became
furious, and gave orders that will hor-
! rify the reader even at this distant day.
! will not trust to memory, but have
here the very words Of the order, taken
from official papers. The order given
to the army was:
ITO wound, kill, slay and destroy all the rebels
and their adherents and relievers; and to burn,
spoil, waste, consume, destroy and dem olish all
| the places, towns and houses where the rebels
were or have been relieved or harbored, and all
corn and hay and to kill and destroy all the men
there inhabiting and able to kill"
Men, women and children were
killed in cold blood in obedience to this
order. Infants at their mothers
breasts were slaughtered. Sir Charles
Coots' order to the army was to destroy
all, without exception, even the small
est infant, because the order read,
..nits will become ice.'' 1t was then,
in 1913 and IA, when Charles was hav-
ing struggle with parliament and the
revolution in England and Scotland
was going on, and he wished to make
peace with the Catholics of Ireland, in
order to oppose parliament, that the
first reports of this pretended massacre
were spread in the interest of parl;a-
ment. Parliament demanded that the
army be sent to crush Ireland. 1t was
then, when Charles was at last be-
headed. that Cromwell came over with
$4,000 men to conduct the Irish war,
which now went on more bitterly, char
acterized by scenes aid sufferings more
terrible than ever. After the principal
cities had been taken, Cromwell went
back to assume the protectorship and
hasten to the war in Scotland. At last,
after two years. Galway surrendered,
and only few places continued to hold
out. Forty thousand of the so-called
rebels took service in foreign coun-
tries, in the armies of Spain, France,
the Netherlands and Poland. In 1852
and '53 the countrJ was ravaged by
famine. Travellers went twenty and
thirty miles without seeing living per-
son. One officer was an eyewitness Of
scene in cabin where the starving
people were feeding upon a corpse.
People died by the wayside, and others
were eaten by wolves, which ventured
within six miles of Dublin. Then came
the order of parliament, dated August
IL, 1862, which was the doom of the
land. The leaders of the rebellion
were declared incapable of pardon,
guilty of death, and their estates for
feited. Those who had borne arms in
any way in aid of the rebellion, and
even those who had not taken up arms
against it, were subjected to various de-
grees ofconiscation. The Irish nation
was banished in the depth of winter to
Galway, section so barren that it was
said not to contain wood enough to
hang man, water enough to drown
him, or land enough to bury him. The
attachment to their old homes was so
strong with many who refused to
transplant that sentence of death
was finally ordered against some who
refused to go, while others were sold
into slavery. Then was completed the
work of coniscation. The country was
parceled out among the soldiers. Many
who had served for long years with lit
tie or no pay were glad to sell their
claims to the officers and adyenturers.
The land, through war and pestilence,
had become so poor that few soldiers
desired to settle. and the officers tried
to get the Irish people as their tenants.
-Four fifths of the country were now
taken, and the remaining one-tifth had
to take all that was left.
The title to every acre of land in Ire
land is held from that Cromwellian set
tlement. Can we wonder that the land
question in Ireland is peculiar? Can
we wonder when men of the royal bloods
at their homes and the homes Of their
forefathers before even the Saxon was
known in England-can we wonder
when they claim certain rights? Can we
wonder when they say men ought to be
satisfied with possible rents?'' Can we
wonder when they claim right that to
an American IS often unintelligible?
The title for every foot of land in Ire
land comes by that settlement. 1 an
swer, no mortal man can defend it, 1t
/ was a sad era. 1t was the beginning of
a great national wrong. To what it will
lead and how it will be righted seems
hard to toresee. But we hope that pru-
dent counsels will prevail. No new
wrong or crime can help the inhabitants
of Ireland back to their old homestead,
to their old homes. 1t is hard to see
the broken affairs and even the ruined
graveyards, as I have seen them. 1t is
sad to think over these things, but [ be-
lieve we are at the dawn of better day